Snippet #1633153

The Fallen God, Azazel
The Grand Cathedral, City of Bellanuva

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The night was starless and frigid as usual midwinter nights do in the city of Bellanuva. It was a night of the full moon on the 16th of the month of Trivarin, on the year 1125 by human reckoning. It was also the 1132th year since the fall of Azazel. Presently, the Bellanuva Clock Tower had just struck the 9th hour past noon with it's triple chime signifying the start of the final religious gathering of the day in the Cathedral of Light where it was located. Over six hundred souls were gathered for the ceremony in the main hall of the cathedral. Needless to say, of the six hundred perhaps ten were truly pious and pure of heart. The rest of the congregation were sinners, murderers, low-lives, nobles, and overall posers in search of appearing higher than their peers. As the chorus of young virginal girls handpicked by the Archbishop all in the interest of lascivious views began chanting the opening prayer, Azazel, Prince of Darkness, jumped silently from the clock-face of the tower where he had been sitting.

He landed without sound or injury despite the fall of over a hundred feet in height. Among the gravestones of the graveyard where he chose to land he would have looked like the very embodiment of the Devil to any observer. Which was just as well for him, for that is exactly what he was. Standing at six feet, six inches, with skin as white as marble he resembled a tall living statue not unlike the angels among the tombs of the wealthy who were buried there. He was clothed all in black, black trousers, black tunic top, black shoes, and a head of long jet black hair. Upon his neckline shined a necklace of what appeared to be silver or platinum to the casual observer, with a phial made out of a hollowed diamond which glowed with an otherworldly light. Upon his waist on his left side, by means of a string of human finger bones strung together by a fiery strand of the hair of one of his beloved Damned Ones hung a simple looking short sword, currently resting withing a sheath fashioned after the wing of a dragon with polished jet sinews. His blood-red eyes scanned with names on the tombstones as he slowly walked from where he had landed towards the Cathedral gates. "So little a count of names. It is high time I made the angels at the gates a bit more busy. Still, it is not my fashion to simply end without a great statement being made. Death, how beautiful I can make it." were Azazel's thoughts as he made his way to the side gate of the cathedral and exited the graveyard. He silently walked, seeming to glide his way towards the towering high wooden doors at the front of the church and stood before them just as the final verse of the first prayer was sung:

Ut vires deus servo nos,
quod augeo nostrum ago,
quod diabolus est inops ut vulnero!


As the chorus died down, the Archbishop himself stood in front of the altar, and began his special sermon. Azazel could not help but to smile at how marvelous man was as he listened with perfect clarity from outside the beautiful carved doors. Here was a truly evil man, speaking to his equally evil peers about rejecting the evil temptations of the devil. According to the holy Archbishop, the foundation of all their troubles, of all the evil in their world was all the work of the devil. Azazel found this extremely entertaining. "They blame me for their own deeds! Oh, how shallowly they speak of me, who created half of all that they are. They dare denounce their very nature, their propensity for the sin they all love so much! And to think I thought them a good idea. But alas, amusing at least they are!" thought Azazel with mirth. It was a favorite past-time to hear the ridiculous thoughts of Man. That and hearing their beautiful screams. And the twisting of their fragile minds, and the corrupting of the souls. Not that it took a lot of work, as most of them were already corrupted. He was in the process of beginning to laugh in his melodic way when he heard the sermon turned to something which deeply angered him.

"And it is by the power of that atrocious beast! By that foul and terrible creature! That abomination! That Divine Joke, that evil which corrupts the hearts of men! So you must all repent! Repent from sin! Shun all evil thoughts! Let not the ugliness of the Devil perverse you!" shouted the Archbishop at the top of his lungs, as he brandished a golden cross high in the air. This infuriated Azazel, not because he was called evil, but because he was called ugly. He, the most beautiful and handsome of all beings considered male. The very essence of masculinity sought after by virgin and angel both. Azazel could feel his wrath aroused, and he welcomed it. With a reverberating boom, the huge wooden doors burst open before him. The entire congregation was stunned into silence as He slowly walked among the numerous and long pews towards the Altar. As he made it past the front pew, the Archbishop began denouncing him as a demon from hell, and waved a cross in the air before him.

"Demon from hell you call me? Pathetic human, you are in the presence of he who created all the evil within you! Who gave you your very blood! Look upon my visage and despair! Ugly you called me! A Divine Joke you named me! An atrocious beast you denounced me! It is by my very will that you do the things yo do. Every morning when you have your way with your chorus girls, it is I who gives you his blessing! And you dare call me an ABOMINATION!" said Azazel in his eerily bone-chilling melodic voice. His body showed no sign of strain from shouting, and yet his voice boomed forth in a powerful echo from the high ceiling of the cathedral. The Archbishop ridiculously step forward, shaking and thrusting the cross into Azazel's chest. He held it there for a moment, as if expecting Azazel to burst into flames. With a vicious laughter Azazel took the cross from the Archbishop, and as he began to cower away licked it. The sign of his obscene act stirred some life into the mass of people within the church, and some got up and ran to the open doors. As they made their way to them, flames consumed them and reduced them to ashes within seconds. The entire church perimeter was aflame, and the fire slowly and seemingly deliberately spread it's way upwards but not inwards, containing everyone within their seats.

With another bout of laughter Azazel glided towards where the Archbishop lay cowering in fear with his back to the altar. The hand that was not holding the cross was raised slowly upwards, and the Archbishop was suddenly raised upright, with his feet inches off the floor. With a beckoning motion of Azazel's hand, the Archbishop was pulled close to where Azazel stood. "Look upon your leader, O pathetic souls. He who claimed was a link to your god. A loving gentle god. I wonder...where is this god now? Why does it not strike me now? You see, the only god in this hall is I! Azazel, Prince of Darkness! A shame however, none of you will live to spread the news." said Azazel to the general terror of the people gathered in the church. The young men and women were just beginning to realize the reality of their plight, while the children and old were still too stunned to scream in terror. "As for you, my Archbishop, you sought to burn my sin with your cross. I wonder, will you pass the same test?" said Azazel as he thrust the cross towards the chest of the Archbishop. Immediately he burst into flames, and slowly he burned to death in front of his followers. His skin slowly cooked, and the fluids drained from him and sizzled to the floor. His eyeballs exploded, and his flesh was cracked. Finally, when he was nothing but a charred skeleton, Azazel let him drop and turned back to the people. "Now my children, let us all go to hell shall we?" declared a smiling devil. The final screams of terror included the children and elderly, and the great flames roared to life and engulfed them all.

A mere hour later, Azazel stood once again upon the clock tower, admiring his handiwork. Row upon row of men still tried to smother the still roaring flames with buckets of water. Skeletal limbs could still be seen among the charred remains of the fallen walls.